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Through a fluke, AD Theresa Phillips at Tennessee State became the first woman to coach a men's Division I basketball team. Acting coach Hosea Lewis had been suspended for one game after a benches-clearing brawl in an earlier game, so Phillips stepped in. She had coached the school's women's team from 1989-2000.
The event caused national media attention and more than one writer to wonder why more women don't coach men's teams, since men coach 56% of college women's teams nationwide. Just two women had been assistants for men's Division I teams: Mary Fenlon at Georgetown and Bernadette Locke at Kentucky.
Pat Summitt, coach of the Tennessee women's team who recently won the 800th game in her career, is clearly one of the nation's best coaches. She once declined the opportunity to coach the men's team, saying she needed to develop the women's game.
Of Phillips taking over ...